Pulse height analyzer



March 1, 1960 Filed March 19,

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United States Patent() PULSE HEIGHT ANALYZER Marcel Fiehrer and Alix Pages, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, assignors to Commissariat a IEnergie Atomique, French State Administration, Paris, France, a society of France Y Application March 19, 1957, Serial No. 646,988 Claims priority, application France March 20, 1956 2 Claims. (Cl. Z50-27) The invention relates to amplitude selecting apparatus, that is to say apparatus intended to select, among a plurality of electrical impulses, those having an amplitude which is within a given range, the selected impulses being subsequently counted and recorded.

Our invention is more especially concerned with apparatus of this kind in which, as soon as the impulse to be analyzed successively reaches the thresholds of different discriminators, circuits having two conditions of stable equilibrium (which will be hereinafter called ipilop circuits) instantaneously shift from one condition of equilibrium to the alternate condition.

The object of our invention is to provide an apparatus of this kind which is more eicient and capable of analyz ing impulses succeeding one another at a higher rate than in existing selectors.

According to our invention, such an apparatus includes a conductor for direct current coupling connected in shunt with the respective dip-dop circuits of the apparatus, this conductor permitting a simultaneous control of these circuits by means of suitable signals, in such manner as to release, after an impulse has been received, the information worked out by the apparatus, by simultaneously restoring said dip-flop circuits to their initial condition of rest and by causing impulses resulting from this change of condition of said circuits to act on anti-coincidence circuits, after which said Hip-flop circuits may be temporarily locked by said signals in said condition of rest.

In the amplitude selectors used up to this time, with the exception of amplitude-time conversion selectors, the impulse to be analyzed acts iirst upon a plurality of adjustable monovibrators or discriminators D1, D2 Dn which determine the respective analysis thresholds S1, S2 Sn, these thresholds dening voltage bands The function of these apparatus being to sort the electrical impulses in accordance with their amplitude, only the impulses the maximum of amplitude of which ranges from Sk to Sk+1 give rise to the counting of one unit in band ASK. When the wavefront of an impulse reaches threshold Sk, the condition of discriminator Dk changes but recording of one unit in band AS1, must be effective only if the condition of discriminator Dk+1 has not changed. Therefore one unit is not counted in a band if, after the lower discriminator of this band has been acted upon, the discriminator immediately above it is in turn acted upon. This involves a diiculty of construction which up to now was solved in known selectors by making use of delay functions or time elongation circuits.

The appended Figures l and 2 illustrate the known principles of utilization of such delay functions and time elongation circuits.

AOn Fig. l, the amplitudes are plotted in ordinates and the times in abscissas. The respective amplitude thresh- OidS S0, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S8 determine bands ASO, AS1, A82, AS3, A84, A85. Impulse 1 reaches said thresholds respectively at ltimes t1, t2, t3, t4, t5. The maximum of amplitude of impulse 1 takes place at time tm and this impulse 1 must give rise to the counting of one unit in band A85. Fig. 1 shows that, during a time interval such as (t2, t3) for instance, the counting of one unit in band AS2 remains possible until time t3 where threshold S3 is reached. It is therefore necessary to wait, after time t2, for a possible response corresponding to threshold S3 in order to know whetherthe maximum of impulse 1 is in band A52 or not. In other words, what is important to know is the response corresponding to the highest threshold that is reached.

In order to obtain this result, recording of the responses corresponding to the respective thresholds (S1 to S5) is generally delayed by amounts At1, Atz, Ata, At4, A15, different for said thresholds respectively, in such manner that these responses occur in the order t5, 14, t3, t'2, t1, reverse of the order t1, t2, t3, t4, l5. In the example of Fig. l it is therefore possible to know, at time t'5, that the maximum of the impulse is in band A85, and this without having to wait for the subsequent times 24, t3, t2, t'1.

-Another known solution of this problem is illustrated by Fig. 2. It consists in modifying the form of impulse 1 before it is sent to the selector and in maintaining the maximum of its amplitude until a time 0, suicient for the good operation of the selector. The amplitude drops back to zero instantaneously at time 6, where it acts upon the conventional anti-coincidence circuits.

All the amplitude selectors known up to this time re quire circuits which bring' into play delay functions or time elongation circuits.

The use of these circuits, essentially constituted by delay networks, gives rise to several serious drawbacks, among which the following ones may be cited:l

The rate of recording is limited (10,00() shots per second with commercial delay lines); y

The impulses to be analyzed must be given special Waveshapes. As a matter of fact, the examples cited with reference to Fig. 1 show that, for given delays At1, A12, At3, Ati, At5, the correct operation of the selector is possible only for given waveshapes of the impulses. This result, which corresponds to a supplementary condition to be complied with, is obtained by means of special circuits, which complicates the operation of the apparatus and makes it more delicate to utilize;

It is extremely diicult to have the recording of the impulses, which are sorted according to their respective amplitudes, controlled in response to phenomenons external to the selector itself, and possibly independent of the selection.

In particular in nuclear physics, the speed of response of the circuits, which are inherent in the principle of the selectors used up to this time, leads to much too long times of measurement, which are not compatible with a judicious utilization of particle accelerators, or to the impossibility of using them in connection with atomic piles producing a high stream of neutrons and with intensive sources.

These drawbacks are obviated, according to the invention, by connecting in shunt with the respective ip-llop circuits a conductor for direct current coupling which permits of simultaneously operating said circuits.

The control signals applied through this conductor permit in particular of simultaneously restoring the respective ip-op circuits to their initial condition of rest, after at least some of them have been triggered by the analysis of an impulse, so as to act upon anti-coincidence circuits.

These signals may subsequently remain for a given time, adjustable at will, at a value such that all the ipilop circuits are maintained in their conditions ofrest.

They may be caused by any phenomenon occurring after the timeV when the amplitudeof the impulserreaches time, and in particular;

and in particular they may be produced by the impulse itself. t I V The amplitude selector according to our invention has several advantages over the selectors known lup to this It reduces to a minimum the time necessary for analysis and recording; this time may, without special precautions, he reduced to 3.107 seconds after the top of the impulse;

It does not necessitate any particular form of the impulses to Abe analyzed and consequently makes it possible to dispense with circuits forgiving special shapes ,to the impulses; v s t r lt permits, owing to its direct current connection ilipop control circuit, of placing the recording of-the impulses under control of any phenomenon external to the selection itself;V f'

VIt permits, owing also to the separation of the circuits into simple functions, a substantial increase ofthe possible rate of succession of the events to be analyzed. Experiments have been made at the ratel of 130,000 ,shots per second without the errors that are found to exist (acceptable forY such recordings) being due, as far as it can be seen, to the selectoritself.

At these high rates of repetition, anexternal control Y remains possible with the of apparatus and withoutintroducing further errors, which is impossible, even at lowl rate of repetition, with the complicated systems used up to this time.

The selector according tocur `invention is very useful in nuclear physics and in particular for studying the disintegration spectrum of radioactive bodies and for measkuring the time of ight of particles. kIt permits of performing these measurements with an accuracy which was not possible with the known apparatus and of conducting new experiments which could not be made up to now. Preferred embodiments of our invention will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, givenvmerelyv by way of example and in which:

Fig. ,3 is a layfoutoftheelements of a selector according to our invention.

lFig. 3ak iS va more tion of thisselector. Y

Fig. 4 shows curves, plotted with the time in absciss-as andthe amplitude in ordinates, of the various impulses which are produced duringthe operation of the selector of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view analogous to Fig.3 relating to another embodiment yof our invention.

Fig. 6 shows curves illustrating apparatus of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 illustrates an advantageous utilization of the selector according to our invention in a measurement chain used Vin nuclear physics. s

,Thel apparatus of Fig. 3 includes four consecutive discriminators 2V, 3, 4 and 5 belonging toa set of nV discriminators and corresponding to four successive threshdetailedelectronic lay-out of a porthe operation of the VVolds of amplitude. vThe corresponding ip-ilop circuits are shown atx6, 78 and 9.` Anti-coincidence,circuits 110, 11 and 12 are mounted so that each of them Vis inserted'between two consecutive ip-llop circuits and cor responds` to an `amplitude band of the selector. -Line 13 distributes. the impulse 14 to be analyzed to discriminators 2. 3, '4 and Sand line 15, which acts upon all the flipo'p circuits 1n parallelserves to control the operation of the selector.

In the curves ofFig. 4, the time is plotted in abscissas and the amplitude in ordinates. Fig..4 shows the impulse 14 transmitted through line 13 (Fig. 3) and theramplitude thresholds 16, .17, 1S and Y19 delined by the discriminators Z, 3, 4 and 5 of Fig. 3. The impulse 14 to be analyzed, having its maximum of amplitude betweenV -thresholds 18 and 19, must cause the anti-coincidence circuitz12 to deliver a signal on its'output line;22 (Fig.

apparatus worksas follows'.

` cuits) which livers no signal into line 26.

The rectangular signals 27, 28 and 29 (Fig. 4), transmitted through lines 23, 24 and 25l (Fig. 3) respectively, are fed to the waveform shaping networks 30, 31 and 32 (which are preferably constituted kby dilerentiating cirdelriver at Ytimes tm', tw and tlg, into lines 34, 35 and 36, the standard signals 3S, 39 and 49 (Fig. 4). The waveform shaping network 33 is not acted upon and no standardrsignal is transmitted through line 37.

Under the action of standard signals 38, 39Y and 40 (Fig. 4), flip-nop vcircuits 6, 7 and 8 instantaneously shift from one position of equil-ibrium to the alternate one and supply the rectangular signals shown at 41, 42 and 43 on Fig. 4. These signals-are transmitted through lines 49, 50 and 51 (Fig. 3) and `are fed, in known fashion, to the waveform shaping networks S3, 54 and y5K5. Flip-op circuit 9 remains unchanged. Beforelstandard impulses 38, 39 and 40, ilip-op circuits 6, 7, Srl'and 9 were in the same conditions oiequilibrium.

These circuits 6, 7, 8 and 9 are circuits having two stableV conditions of equilibrium, with two input terminals, of a known type. The input terminals 44, 45, 46 and 47 of lijp-nop circuits 6, 7,8 and 9, respectively, are connected in shunt with conductor `15 which permits of controlling, according to ourV invention, the recording of the impulses and the blocking of the selector.

To control the recordingof the impulses, as it will be specified hereinafter, it sufces to send into conductor 15, at a time 1- after the impulse has reached its maximum, a short signal of suicient amplitude (off an amplitudehigher than the threshold of the ip-op circuits) to return into their conditions of rest of the ilip-op circuits which have been shifted during the time corresponding to the wavefront of the impulse. For the flip-flop circuits, two cases are therefore possible:

lf Vany ip-op circuit was in the rest condition, it remains therein;

lf any ip-op circuit has shifted from one condition to the alternate one, it returns to the condition of rest.

VIn order Yto block the selector and to neutralize its operation for a given time, instead of sending through conductor 15 at time r a short signal, as above stated to effect the recording, we raise, according to the invention, during a time interval from r to fr', the potential of conductor 15 toa level sucient to fix the ip-op circuit in the conditions of rest. Several possibilities then exist:

If a flip-flop circuit, for instance 9, was, prior to this, in the conditions of rest, it is maintained therein and no standard impulse coming from a discriminator can modify its state of rest, as long as conductor 15 is kept at this 'potential level;

. turned thereto and maintained therein vas long as conductor 15 remains at thispotential level.

In'the operation asabove described with reference to Figs. 3 and V4,' the potential of conductor 15 has been kept below this level (for instance at fifteen volts),.which has enabled'flip-ilop circuits 6, 7 and 8 to shift from one condition to the alternate Vone at times tm, tlf, and tls, thus producing rectangular signals 41, 42V and 43 (Fig. 4).

In order to perform the actual measurement and also to block the apparatus, 'it therefore suices. to send through linelS, at a `time 1- subsequentto the maximum of the amplitude of impulse 14, a signal 48 (Fig. 4) at a `potential levell above that necessary for blocking Athe nip-flop circuits, so that said circuits are instantaneously returned to the conditions of rest and are keptvtherein until time fr. ',Ilfhe return to zero of signals 41, 42 and 43 transmitted through lines 49, 50and 51Vcau's'es, at this time r, the waveform shaping networks 53,v 54 and 55 (Fig. 3) to deliver standard signals 61, 62 and 63 (Fig. 4) into lines 57, 58 and 59 (Fig. 3). No signal is produced on the lines 52 and 60 and in the waveform shaping network 56, corresponding to the amplitude threshold 19, which is not reached by the impulse to be analyzed.

Standard signals 61, 62 and 63 then act upon anticoincidence circuits 10, 11 and 12 of a known type.

The anti-coincidence circuits, such as and 11, which are acted upon simultaneously, at time f, by two standard signals coming respectively from lines 57 and 58 (for circuit 10) and from lines 58 and 59 (for circuit 11) deliver no output signal into lines 2t) and 21. On the contrary, the anti-coincidence circuit, 12, which receives a standard signal through line 59, but receives no signal through line 60, delivers an output signal into line 22. This output signal finally causes one unit to be counted in the band defined by thresholds 18 and 19, corresponding to the maximum of amplitude of impulse 14 (Fig. 4).

At time T, all the ip-op circuits are in the conditions of rest and they are maintained therein, thus blocking the selector as long as the potential of conductor remains above a given level, equal for instance to 15 volts in the construction illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4. Blocking is maintained until time 'r' and the period of time between -r and T may be adjusted at will. It depends only upon the shape of signal 48 sent through line 15.

When the time interval between r and -r tends toward zero, there is only a recording of the impulse without blocking of the apparatus.

On the other hand, when this time interval tends toward ininity, the apparatus tends to be permanently blocked.

Fig. 3a shows in a more detailed fashion the electronic lay-out of the chain of elements corresponding to one of the amplitude thresholds and including discriminator 2, differentiating circuits 3i) and 53, flip-Hop circuit 6, anticoincidence circuit 10 and lines 13, 15, 20, 23, 34, 44, 49, 57 and 58.

In one particular embodiment of our invention, return of the ip-op circuits to the condition of rest and blocking of the selector are controlled directly by the impulse itself.

Fig. 5 diagrammatically shows the lay-out of the apparatus in this case and Fig. 6 is an explanatory view illustrating the different impulses which are produced in this apparatus.

Fig. 5 differs from Fig. 3 in that it includes a supplementary stage. This stage comprises a discriminator 64, a waveform shaping network 65, a ilip-op circuit 66 and a delay circuit 67. Discriminator 64 denes an amplitude threshold 68 lower than the iirst threshold 16 of the selector (Fig. 6). When the impulse 14 to be analyzed reaches threshold 68, discriminator 64 produces a signal 69 which ends at the time impulse 14 again passes through an amplitude close to that of said threshold 68. The waveform shaping network 65 delivers at this time through line 71 a standard pulse 70 (Figs. 5 and 6). Flip-flop circuit 66 then shifts from one condition to the alternate one and delivers signal 72 into the control line 15 which returns all the ip-op circuits such as 6, 7, 8 and 9 to the condition of rest, thus permitting recording and blocking of the selector apparatus.

However, after a given time, impulse 70 which has travelled through the delay circuit 67 returns flip-flop circuit 66 to the condition of rest and signal 72 is ended at time T'. Control line 15 returns to its initial potential and the selector is again ready for a new recording. The time of blocking of selector -r and T is therefore equal to the adjustable delay introduced by circuit 67. Threshold 68 may he adjusted at will, in particular at a value equal to zero (when the impulse 14 to be analyzed actually returns to zero value). In this case, time r' corresponds to the time when impulse 14 again passes through this zero value.

We will now describe, with reference to Fig. 7, an example of utilization of the amplitude selector according to the invention in a measurement chain, used in nuclear physics for the study of the disintegration spectrums of radioactive bodies, that is to say to determine and to classify chronologically the different radiations emitted by an activated body before it returns to its inactive state.

It is useful, for such a study, to he able to sort some radiations which are little frequent (in the proportion of 1 to 10,000 for instance, with respect to the total number of radiations) about which it is only known that they are necessarily in determined time or amplitude relation with some other radiations which are known and can be detected.

In the example of Fig. 7, a radioactive source 73 emits radiations which are detected and transformed into impulses by two scintillators 74 and 75 and two photomultipliers 76 and 77, these impulses being subsequently amplified in two ampliers 79 and 8l), then applied to two amplitude selectors 81 and 82 according to our invention, selector 81 including one band and selector 82 ten bands, for instance. The control lines of these selectors are designated by 83 and 84 respectively.

Chronological sorting is ensured by a quick coincidence circuit 7S, of a known type (time of resolution averaging 10"8 seconds) and amplitude sorting by amplitier 80 and the single band selector 81.

This measurement chain is advantageously used to establish the statistic, among a multiplicity of radiations, of radiations of a type A which are little frequent but are necessarily in time relation with another radiation of a type B the energy of which is known.

When source 73 emits, in given time relation with respect to each other, two radiations of any type whatever both detected by scintillators 74 and 75, these two radiations immediately give rise to impulses which are applied to selectors 81 and 82 and the quick coincidence circuit 78 delivers an impulse on line S3, thus releasing selector 81. This selector, the threshold and energy band width of which are suitably adjusted so as to pass only impulses of type B, produces, when one of the radiations emitted by source 73 and amplied by amplifier 80 is of type B, an impulse on line 84 which, in turn, releases selector 82. This selector 82 the energy band of which has been chosen so as to pass impulses of type A, can then freely record and sort the impulse of type A previously ampliiied by amplifier 79.

As compared with the devices known at the present time, this measurement chain multiplies the rate of recording of events by a factor higher than twenty, reduces the times of operation in the same ratio and permits studies with intensive sources, which were impossible up to the present time.

In a general manner, while we have, in the above description, disclosed what we deem to be practical and eicient embodiments of our invention, it should be well understood that we do not wish to be limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the accompanying claims.

What we claim is:

1. An amplitude selecting apparatus for analyzing impulses delivered in an electric line which comprises, in combination, a set of amplitude discriminators responsive to different respective amplitude thresholds, every two successive thresholds determining between them an amplitude band, said discriminators having their respective input terminals connected in shunt with said line, a set of flip-op circuits equal in number to that of said discriminators, each of said flip-iiop circuits corresponding to one of said discriminators respectively, said flip-dop circuits having each a first input terminal, a second input terminal and one output terminal, said rst input terminal of each of said flip-flop circuits being connected with the output terminal ofthe corresponding discriminator, said flip-nop circuits being arranged toY be triggered from the condition of rest to the alternate condition in response torthe'operation of said discriminators respectively, said flip-flop circuits beingV further arranged to be blocked in condition of rest by the application of a direct voltage of given value to their second a second input terminal and one output terminal, eachV of said anti-coincidence circuits being capable of delivering a counting signal Vfrom said last mentioned output terminal -under the only effect of a signal transmitted to one of said'l last mentionedinput terminals while no signal -is being transmitted to the other of saidlasrt mentioned input terminals, -said anti-coincidence circuits being inserted respectively.betweenthe output terminals of said ip-iiop circuits so that each of said anti-coincidence circuits has its two input terminals connected respectively to the output terminals of 'two consecutive flip- 'ilop circuits of said set of flip-nop circuits and means for transmitting a signal from the output of each of said ipllop circuits to the anti-coincidence input Yterminals connected therewith in response to the return of said Vlast mentioned flip-flop circuit from triggered condition to the condition of rest.,V

- 2. amplitude selecting apparatus foranalyzingY impulses delivered in an'electric' line which comprises, lin combination, a set of amplitude discriminators responsive to diierent respective amplitude thresholds, every two successive thresholds determining between them-an am- Y plitude band, said discriminators havingtheir'input terminals connected in shunt with said line, a setdof flip- Viop circuits equal in number to Vthat of Ysaid discriminators, each of said `iiipl-'iiop circuits corresponding to one of said discriminators respectively, said ip-op circuits having'each a first input terminal, a second input terminal and one output terminal, said iirst input terminal of each of said flip-flop circuits beingV connected with the output terminal of the corresponding'discriminator, said ip-i'lop circuits being arranged'to betriggered from the condition of rest'to the alternate condition in response Ito" the operation of said discriminators respectively, said iiip-op circuits being yfurther arranged to be returned into condition of rest and maintained in this condition by the application of a direct voltage of given value totheir second input terminals respectively, a control conductor fr transmitting said "given direct voltage, the second input terminals of said flip-flop circuits being connected in shunt with saidv control conductor, a plurality 'of anticoincidence circuits having each a first input terminal, a second input terminal andone output terminal, each of said anti-coincidence circuits being capable of delivering a counting signal'from said'last mentioned-output terminal under the only effect of a signal transmitted to one of said last mentioned input terminals while no signal is being transmitted to the other of said last mentioned input terminals, said lanti-coincidence circuits being inserted respectively between the output terminals of said flip-Hop circuits so that eachof Vsaid anti-coincidence circuits has its two input terminals connected Vrespec'tiveiyV to the output terminals of two 'consecutive V/fli'p-iiop circuits 'of said set of flip-flop circuits,V means for transmitting a signal from the outputv of each of said `flip-hop circuits to the anti-coincidence input terminals connected therewith in response to the return of said last mentioned flip-op circuit to said condition ofy rest, and means for transmitting said direct voltage through said control conductor in response to the transmission'through said line of an impulse to be analyzed, whereby, immediately upon the transmission ofV said direct voltage through said conductor, a signal is transmitted from the youtput terminal of that of said anti-coincidence circuits which corresponds 'to the amplitude band where is '1ocated the maximum of said last'mentioned impulse, said last mentioned means including'a flip-flop circuit having two input terminals and anY output'terminal, said last mentioned output terminal being connected ywith said conductor, means forV connectingfsaid two vlast mentioned input terminals with said line, said last Ymentioned means including a delay circuit inserted between said line and one of said last mentioned input terminals, said last mentioned connecting means being adapted to operate said last mentioned flip-flop circuit in response Vto the return of an input impulse transmittedV through said line to an amplitude lower than that of the lowest of said thresholds so that, when said impulse to be ana.- lyzed drops back to said lower amplitude, said last mentioned flip-liep circuit causes said direct voltage to be delivered through said control conductor for a time determined by said delay circuit.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Sands Nov. 14, 1950 Schenck 'June 3, 1958 

